Habarana II

I got to rest for a few minutes after eating lunch before Sanji arrived to pick me up for another safari. We went to buy the tickets again and we were off into the jungle once again. I had the wrong impression of Habarana Eco-Park, as I thought it was just a small wannabe park compared to Minneriya but I was deadwrong as it had much splendor in terms of its flaura and fauna. Sanji took me to a secluded spot where I blazed up. It was much more crowded though as this was of course where the all the elephants were migrating through so there were a lot more jeeps hanging around and it was hard to find solace so Minneriya wins a bit more in that regard. But the elephants, oh the elephants! There were a lot, huge herds with cute baby elephants. They felt a bit threatened, I could tell as they shifted to defensive positions as they got surrounded by jeeps. Sanji also took me to this hill and gave me another joint that took some time to light because of the wind but it was great and I got to see the sun set beyond the horizon of green trees. All in all, it was a pretty tiring day after Polonnaruwa but it was still a good time. I would say Minneriya was the much better experience. The way back was very chill and I was quite excited to try out the Ayurvedic massage.

Lasantha took me to the place and it is definitely much higher scale in terms of its aesthetic. Everything was built inside mud huts, the night was cool and I could hear crickets chirping in the background as the receptionist explained to me what was included in my package and the concept of Ayurveda which was the science of life. The package included the actual massage using special oils, herbal sauna and one of the main points that I wanted to try out which was the Shirodhara treatment with a hot shower to end the session. My masseuse, Sylva, was absolutely amazing with her hands, it felt like flowing water and my fatigue all around my body quickly melted away. She used these special oils and made sure to work on every part of my body from head to toe. Next was the actual Shirodhara, she poured a steady stream of warm medicated liquid on my forehead and made shapes on it but most of it was centered on forehead. I got a lot of ASMR from it and I could understand why they would call it a nervous system massage. It's what really sold me on the Ayurvedic massage since they really work on both body, mind and spirit. After the whole treatment, I was led to a herbal sauna where I bathed in some very healthy herbal fumes for half an hour and after I took a nice shower and emerged anew. I made sure to thank Sylva properly. I managed to avoid the powercut as well by taking the massage so all in all a good day!Read more